Vergara laughs off Mandel’s joke
With the ink still drying on Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello’s divorce papers, Howie Mandel couldn’t stop himself from cracking an on-air joke about Vergara’s new relationship status.
And even after online backlash that the gag was too soon, Mandel is defending the moment and claiming Vergara was in on the joke.
On the Aug. 22 episode of “America’s Got Talent,” in which Mandel judges alongside Vergara, the panelists were watching the act of ventriloquist Brynn Cummings. During the performance, the 12-year-old asks Heidi Klum, also a judge on the show, to help her pick an “eligible bachelor” for the ventriloquist’s puppet.
After the act, Mandel lauded the act as “amazing” before ribbing Vergara. “If I have one word of advice, if you’re looking for eligible bachelors, you should’ve talked to Sofia, ’cause she’s in the market right now,” he said.
As the live audience reacted with a mix of cheers and groans, Vergara looked down while smiling shyly, before beaming, stretching out her arms and yelling, “Yeah!” She turned toward Klum and laughed.
Host Terry Crews cut into the moment, calling out from the stage, “No, we are not doing that here.”
While “people were killing” Mandel online over the joke, criticizing it for being “too soon” and “tasteless,” the comedian doubled down on his humorous take, saying he was “helping Sofia.”
“It’s not too soon,” Mandel continued. “It’s too soon when she’s still married. Last season was too soon. Even if she saw it coming. I don’t think she did. I’m just saying, that was too soon. As soon as she’s free, as soon as they live in separate homes, the door is open, people!”
Mandel then assured that Vergara had come over “and she thought it was funny,” and had “approved of the joke.”
“I’m her Bumble,” he said.
After the episode aired, Vergara shared behindthe-scenes shots from the episode on Instagram, including a selfie with Mandel, captioning the post, “Luv u @howie mandel” with star emojis.
Actor Hersha Parady, known for her heartwarming role of schoolteacher Alice Garvey on “Little House on the Prairie,” died Aug. 23 at age 78.
Parady had been battling a brain tumor when she died at the Norfolk, Virginia, home of her son, Jonathan Peverall, who confirmed the actor’s death. Parady’s condition
Actor Parady dies:
“robbed her of her strength, her memory, and sadly, her vibrant personality,” according to the GoFundMe page set up by Peverall this summer.
The wife of the late Oscar-winning “Deer Hunter” producer John Peverall, Parady started her run on “Prairie” during the Season 4 premiere in 1977. Her character met a tragic end in Season 6, in a two-part episode in which the School for the Blind caught on fire and Alice dies trying to rescue children from the building.
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